The UK diet lacks vitamins and minerals

Paper reviewMicronutrientNutrient densityNutrition
Written By Michael Butler

Micronutrients or processing? An analysis of food and drink items from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey based on micronutrient content, the Nova classification and front of package traffic light labelling (2025)

 

In a nutshell

  • Many British people are not getting enough vitamins and minerals

  • This is caused in large part by consuming too much highly processed food

  • Britain is experiencing a dramatic rise in hospitalization caused by lack of vitamins and minerals

 
 

Context

The authors examined UK nutrition data and compared the levels of important micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) in different levels of processed foods and drinks with national guidelines. This is interesting to me in light of the recent newspaper article describing dramatic increases in hospitalization due to low micronutrient content.


Objective and results of the investigation

The authors examined levels of important vitamins and minerals in different levels of processed food and compared them to the UK dietary micronutrient recommendations for adult men and women aged 19 to 64 years. Levels of processing were described as Minimally Processed Food (MPF), Processed Food (PF), and Ultra Processed Food (UPF).

Results were as follows:

  • Minimal differences between men and women

  • More processed foods tended to contain more calories

  • When adjusted for calories, less processed food is more nutritious

    • MPF contains almost 100% more micronutrients than PF

    • MPF contains almost 150% more micronutrients than UPF

    • PF contains almost 30% more micronutrients than UPF

  • Many British adults are likely not consuming adequate levels of micronutrients

Why is the paper interesting?

The authors explain that British people on average receive around 33% of their daily energy from MPF, 10% from PF, and almost 50% from UPF and conclude:

 
“…the lower micronutrient content of UPF compared with MPF has potentially important implications for meeting micronutrient recommendations within the UK population.”
 

How does the paper help me to understand health and longevity?

In my description of the newspaper article describing UK hospitalisations related to low vitamin and mineral levels I stated:

 
“…a lack of nutrition in the UK diet is most likely driven by a reduction in the quality of what we choose or are able to consume, largely unrelated to affordability and poverty.”
 

This study lays out in detail how the levels of micronutrient density decreases as food becomes more highly processed. The authors also describe how people consuming UPF are less likely to achieve adequate micronutrient intake for a healthy life. This goes a long way to explain why British people are ending up in hospital due to inadequate vitamin and minerals.

Study outline

This study looked at micronutrients and levels of processing in food and drink listed in the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) database and compared those to UK government dietary micronutrient recommendations.

References

  1. Dicken SJ, Batterham RL, Brown A. Micronutrients or processing? An analysis of food and drink items from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey based on micronutrient content, the Nova classification and front of package traffic light labelling. British Journal of Nutrition. Published online 2025:1-43. doi:10.1017/S0007114524003374

Michael Butler
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